Take the 110 freeway to Martin Luther King, then head west for a few blocks. If necessary, roll down the window and follow the surprisingly sweet smell of success emanating from the Rams these days.

The Rams haven’t played at the Coliseum since Oct. 8. That day, they lost to Seattle to fall to 3-2, and their season seemed to be teetering. After five weeks and more than 16,500 air miles, the Rams have returned home, winners of three consecutive games and atop the NFC West standings by a full game.

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The thought of coming home, though, only seemed to inspire shrugs from Rams players.

“To be honest, I’ll play anywhere right now with this group of men,” cornerback Trumaine Johnson said after Sunday’s victory over the New York Giants. “We’re so focused. We really are.”

Nobody needs to be convinced. The results are self-evident and striking. The Rams took three long trips and outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 111-34. The offense is full of big plays, the defense is forcing turnovers and the special-teams unit has blocked two punts in three weeks.

The Rams (6-2) have reached the midpoint of the season, and things are going so well that Coach Sean McVay had to be asked Monday whether there was anything upon which the Rams could improve.

“There’s always going to be things, when you break down an entire game, that you can clean up,” McVay said, “whether it’s fundamentals or techniques or some of the assignments. But I think we feel good about what we’ve done in the last couple weeks. There’s always room for improvement.”

In other words, not really. Things will get tougher, but perhaps not this week, because the Houston Texans come to town without standout rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson, who tore a knee ligament in practice last week.

If there’s one thing for the Rams to clean up, it’s not really any facet of their game, but their ability to play well at home, something that has been a challenge since the team relocated from St. Louis last year.

The Rams won four games last season and went 1-6 at the Coliseum. This year, they started the season with a home victory over Indianapolis but then lost to Washington and Seattle. Since the relocation, the Rams have won as many games at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (two) as at the Coliseum.

“We want to get one in front of our fans, for sure,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “I think we will have a little bit of excitement, because we’ve been gone for three weeks. Hopefully they’ll get that place rocking.”

That would be a welcome change for the Rams. They were greeted in 2016 with strong crowds, but after a 4-12 season, those numbers have reduced dramatically. At times during the Seattle game, Goff and the offense had to go to a silent count because of the noise created by Seahawks fans.

Now, with the Dodgers’ run done, USC football on the road and UCLA football struggling, the Rams should be able to draw a strong crowd Sunday. For the first time since the move, their fans actually are excited for football reasons. Presumably, they’ll pay to watch meaningful games in November.

For McVay, the challenge is to prevent the Rams from relaxing too much, now that their long road sojourn is over, and prevent them from becoming satisfied with their recent success.

“There’s a lot of things that have been said,” McVay said. “But when you look at it, what were teams’ records at the halfway point last year? You don’t remember. It’s how you finish seasons. For us right now, it’s about finding a way to play a really good ninth game of the season.”

ROSTER MOVE

The Rams waived receiver Bradley Marquez on Monday. Marquez had been on the injured-reserve list since training camp, when he suffered a knee injury. Marquez, apparently is now healthy, but by waiving him, the Rams forfeited their right to re-sign him for the rest of this season. Marquez first joined the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2015.

The Rams apparently have yet to decide whether to activated running back Lance Dunbar from the “physically unable to perform” list, but Dunbar is expected to practice this week, as he did last week.

STEP FORWARD?

The good news for receiver Sammy Watkins is that he finally got his big play, a 67-yard touchdown catch against the Giants. The bad news is that was Watkins’ only catch, and he was targeted only one other time.

A couple weeks ago, Watkins seemed to express some frustration on social media about his role in the Rams’ offense, but on Monday, McVay had high praise for Watkins and even talked about his willingness to block for other receivers.

“He has continued to respond the exact way we would want,” McVay said. “I know, like any other receiver, he wants to get more touches, but I couldn’t be more happy and pleased with where he’s at and what he’s done for our football team.”

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.

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